wrote in message
ps.com...
I'm building a 26 foot pilothouse sloop and the plans call for a large
icebox. My experience doing the kind of cruising I expect to do on
this boat is that finding ice consumes a lot of time, it doesn't last
long, it takes up a lot of space, and the food items can get soggy if
I am doing any hard sailing. I have noticed that Fisheries Supply in
Seattle sells "conversion kits" for converting ice boxes to 12 VDC
refrigerator. This seems like a sensible choice, and might even be
good to build in right from the start. Does anyone have experience
with these kits or any kind of application other than a drop in box?
I am thinking that with 4" polyurethane foam that I'll be able to
handle the power consumption with a pair of Grp 31 batteries. Does
this seem reasonable?

Al Gunther Kingston, WA ---- 47° 48.1'N, 122° 30.0'W
http://homepage.mac.com/agunther/.Public/index.html


Are you totally married to the idea of having refrigeration aboard?
Considering the size of the boat, you may be better-served by utilizing as
much space as possible just for stowage, rather than having to waste so much
of it with insulation. But 4" of poly foam is about standard on most icebox
conversions I've seen, so it would be reasonable.